Building A Trade

Unless you’ve been living in a hole for the past couple weeks, you know that the Twins are a possible trade destination for Mariners starting pitcher Cliff Lee. Since no one knows for sure what the Mariners want in return for Lee, many of us have started speculating on what the Twins should give up. It’s clear that catcher Wilson Ramos will be included, simply because he has enough talent to be a starting catcher in the majors, and barring an injury to Joe Mauer, that starting spot won’t be in Minnesota.

Carl Pavano Likes Making Decisions

It’s very rare, if not impossible, for a pitcher to earn a decision (a win or a loss) in every single start during a full season. Even this early in the season, nearly all starting pitchers have not had a decision in two or more starts. Some exceptions are Roy Oswalt (5-9 in 15 starts), Ubaldo Jimenez (13-1 in 15 starts), Adam Wainwright (10-5 in 16 starts), and Roy Halladay (9-6 in 16 starts).* All of these pitchers, even despite Oswalt’s record, are very good pitchers. However, they have been unable to match a feat that Carl Pavano has done this season. After today’s complete game shutout against the New York Mets, Pavano is now 9-6 in 15 starts. From my count, of all major league pitchers with at least 14 starts in 2010, only Clay Buchholz of the Boston Red Sox (10-4 in 14 starts)** and Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies (8-6 in 14 starts) have also earned a decision in every single one of their 2010 starts.

* The fact that these 4 pitchers are all in the National League is likely just coincidental.

** Update: Buchholz started tonight against San Francisco and left the game after only one inning with an injury. He did not get the decision, so now Moyer and Pavano are the only two pitchers in the majors with at least 14 starts and a decision from every start.

Living In Fantasy Land

If you have listened to more than one of Fanatic Jack’s podcasts, you know that he likes to mention that someone is “living in Fantasy Land.” Ron Gardenhire thinks the Twins can win with Drew Butera catching and Joe Mauer not playing today? Gardy must be living in Fantasy Land. Bill Smith keeps Nick Blackburn on the major league roster because in his eyes, Blackburn is a major league-quality pitcher? He must be living in Fantasy Land. You get the picture.

However, this post is not about Fanatic Jack. Rather, it’s about three of the men that are paid to discuss the Twins during games: Dick Bremer, Bert Blyleven, and John Gordon.

Things That Need To Change

1. No more marriage proposals at Target Field

When the occasional fan sees a marriage proposal on the scoreboard, they cheer. It seems like every man that has been in a committed relationship wants to whip out a ring for their girlfriends in the inaugural season at Target Field. Guess what, men? You’re not the first guy to do it. You’re not even the 10th guy to do it. The fans might support you, but the ushers, media, and everyone else that is a regular at Target Field is sick of it. Just ask Phil Mackey of the 1500 AM radio station.

Remembering The Day That Was…

April 17th, 2009

Yesterday, Twins fans were treated to one of the most unusual games ever, where they took a 9-4 deficit into the 9th inning, yet tied the game with help from a pair of 2-run homers by Jim Thome and Joe Mauer, then were the beneficiaries of Drew Butera’s pinch-hit home run in the 10th, and eventually took the lead for good in the 11th with an RBI infield single by Delmon Young. This would seem like a rare occurrence of a game, but yesterday brought back memories of one of my favorite Twins games of all time.

Recap, Twins @ Phillies, Game 2

All the proof you need to show that today’s game was a bit unusual can be demonstrated in this chain of events at the Park Tavern during the 10th inning.

Me: *looks at Seth Stohs across the room, shrugs shoulders, and shouts* Why is Butera hitting?!

*On the next pitch, Drew Butera hits a go-ahead home run to left field*

Couldn’t have planned that any better.

Student Night

The commercials for Red Stripe beer has the slogan “Hooray beer!” Clearly those commercials weren’t made with what happened tonight in mind.

As an usher, Student Night is not a good night to work. It’s even worse if you work in the section where all these people are sitting. Can you guess that I had some issues tonight?

Recap: The First 2/3 Of The Homestand

Well, I’ve been working at 5 of the past 6 Twins home games and I was still at Target Field as a fan for that other game, so I’ve been spending plenty of time in Minneapolis this past week. I have stories to tell, such as announcing assigned spots in the park, being out-ballhawked by a concession worker, getting creative with the seat jigsaw puzzle, meeting friends on accident, and failing to meet other friends despite having plans to do so…stay tuned.

Fixing Brendan Harris

If you watched the 8th inning of Sunday’s game against the Athletics, you were treated to this at-bat by Brendan Harris.

If you remember, Harris flinched at the second pitch…which was a strike. You may also note that this was not the first time that Harris flinched at a strike on the inside corner. I have an idea that if Harris would stop shivering in his cleats every at-bat, that he might be able to bat higher than .200. Therefore, here is my program that will hopefully be adopted by the Twins coaching staff to help Harris learn to be a man in the batter’s box.

Roster Construction and Injuries

When the Twins called up 3B Danny Valencia from Triple-A Rochester to replace Michael Cuddyer, it brought some satisfaction to many Twins fans. Here was the guy that may become the third baseman of the future, and he’s finally in the major leagues. It may not be for long, but at least the Twins front office finally showed that they are not ignoring him, a la Anthony Slama (though his lack of being on the 40-man roster is an issue Valencia didn’t have). So far, Valencia’s defense has appeared to be just fine, and although he has 2 hits in 8 AB so far, those 2 hits have been infield singles that didn’t contribute much to the team.